Week 4 in the bag

[younggrizzly]

Woo hoo week 4 done roll on week 5.

I am still loving the programme but the last 2 runs of week 4 have been baaaad! Out of nowhere my legs feel like lead. I've got lots in my lungs but the legs are saying no most of the way until the last 5 minute run then they improve. Maybe that's when they're properly warmed up? Maybe it's all in my head though I was going out knowing I could do it as W4 R1 I had (very surprisingly) found a breeze.

I start week 5 on Friday and am looking forward to a variety of runs for the week ahead with a slight dread in the pit of my stomach thinking about W5 R3.........

Anyhow ignoring the dread for a second I'm very impressed to report that my resting heart rate has improved since starting the programme down from 70bpm to 59bpm on average. I'm officially getting fitter!

The programme has also inspired me to overhaul my diet to shift some of my excess baggage and I have started this week to avoid processed sugary goodness errr sorry I mean nastiness and have more of the good stuff to fuel my runs. One thing I learned last week was that trying to run after having chilli nachos for lunch was never going to end well... Hopefully I can stick to it this time.

[nickinocki]

Hey younggrizzly, I'm week 5 too. Did r1 yesterday on beach in cornwall (on Hols at the moment), it was fab fab fab! Can't believe I did it, hard but could probably have gone on a little longer on last run. So, tomorrow could be r2, tho am having first lesson SUP (stand up paddling) and am sure this will turn my legs to jelly, so attempting to run for 8 mins may not be such a good idea! In which case it will be Saturday as we are heading home on Friday. R3 fills me with horror too........20 mins running!!! We'll see..........

Good luck! Keep in touch

[younggrizzly Graduate]

Hi nickinocki, thanks for your comment. Your holiday sounds lovely. I would love to run on the beach! Good luck with run 2 after the paddling. Post how you get on!

[ca66ie99 Graduate]

I'm on W6, so am only a week ahead of you. Like you I was dreading W5R3, I just could not see how I could go from running a total of 8 mins to a total of 20 mins !! I know that adding up W5R2 I was nearly there.

I changed from using Laura, to using her for the warm up then I switched to my own music and used a stop watch. I spent the first part of the run working out where I had to run to before I could look at the watch. When I looked at the watch I was pleasantly surprised to see I was almost 2/3's through, I then did another lap and really only struggled during the last 2 mins.

I totally believe that this plan is possible now, even though I struggled through W6R1 more than W5R3 - bizarre, I thought I'd find it easy. You will be fine, just make sure youre happy using Laura or if you are struggling with the music like I was use your own. Good luck !